The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
The Chief-Justice accompanied the
party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued
to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province, which was
of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and
his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of
civilized life, seem to have been unbearable to his sensitive and social
nature. In 1795 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province,
where he continued to occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he
resigned his position, and returned to England. His services as
Chief-Justice entitled him to a pension of £800 per annum, which he
continued to enjoy for rather more than twenty-two years. For historical
purposes, his career may be said to have ceased with his resignation, as
he never again emerged from the seclusion of private life. He was
several times requested to enter Parliament, but declined to do so.
During the four years immediately succeeding his return to England he
resided in the Temple. In 1804, upon the conversion of Melbourne
House--a mansion in the West End of London--into the fashionable set of
chambers known as "The Albany," he took up his quarters there for the
remainder of his life. Among other distinguished men who resided there
contemporaneously with him were Lord Brougham and Lord Byron. The latter
occupied the set of chambers immediately adjoining those of the retired
Chief-Justice, and the two became personally acquainted with each other;
though, considering the diversity of their habits, it is not likely that
any very close intimacy was established between them. In conjunction
with Sir William Grant, Mr. Osgoode was appointed on several legal
commissions. One of these consisted of the codification of certain
Imperial Statutes relating to the colonies. Another involved an inquiry
into the amount of fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of
King's Bench, which inquiry was still pending at the time of Mr.
Osgoode's death. He lived very much to himself, though he was sometimes
seen in society. He died of acute pneumonia, on the 17th of January,
1824, in the seventieth year of his age. One of his intimate friends has
left the following estimate of his character:--"His opinions were
independent, but zealously loyal; nor were they ever concealed, or the
defence of them abandoned, when occasions called them forth. His
conviction of the excellence of the English Constitution sometimes made
him severe in the reproof of measures which he thought injurious to it;
but his politeness and good temper prevented any disagreement, even with
those whose sentiments were most opposed to his own. To estimate his
character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know him well; his
first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But no person
admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem
which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He died in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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